Spanish CLEP--Interpreting Scores from Peterson's Vs. Actual Test

Discussion in 'CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit' started by Manute_Bol, Nov 30, 2011.

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  1. Manute_Bol

    Manute_Bol New Member

    Hello all! Long time lurker first time poster...

    I'm scheduled to take the Spanish CLEP for my final two credits of my degree requirements and have a few questions about the scoring of the practice tests from Peterson's Vs. the actual CLEP examination. I've searched the forums and there were a few similar threads from years past but no clear and definitive answer was ever reached or at least posted.

    On the Peterson's practice exams you are given a percentage that is calculated obviously by the number of correct answers divided by the incorrect ones. However, it is my understanding that the CLEP exam gives you 1 point for each correct response. In theory, in order to receive my foreign language credits I need to score above a 54...so does that mean I need to only get 54 out of the 120 questions correct? That seems a bit off to me. I took the exam a few years ago and didn't pass but hopefully this time around I can knock it out. I scored decent on the Peterson's but I've prepared myself knowing that those scores are typically inflated a little bit...but it would give me a boost of confidence if the number I scored correctly on the Peterson's would equate to, +/- 10 points or so, what I could expect to make on the actual exam.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Manute! I thought you died last year!?! Was that just a publicity stunt?
     
  3. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    There really is no good way to correlate one score to the other. The way CLEP items are graded is based upon the weighted difficulty of each question, which is then converted into a scaled score whose formula is more secret than that of ColaCola and Colonel Sanders' original formula.

    Also, the types of questions are very different. Peterson's questions tend to be short and sweet and have only one salient grammatical point to test you on. CLEP questions often require you to note multiple layers of grammar rules and make you read long passages. (I know I just made it sound hard, but this is actually an advantage. This way, there is no question left in your mind which answer is correct since the incorrect ones are more easily weeded out by what facets of grammar you happen to understand best.)

    The best advice I can give you to assess your readiness is to assume that you will get every single one of the questions on the listening portion wrong, and see if you can pass on just the strength of your multiple choice answers. I say this because the audio on the CLEP exam is so horrendous that even native speakers can't make out what the heck they are saying. The good news is, it is very possible to get a good score even if you do get all of the listening questions wrong (which statistically is not likely to happen anyway even if all you do is guess) because there are so few of them in relation to the rest of the exam.
     
  4. Manute_Bol

    Manute_Bol New Member

    Yes, that was me...my ticker just couldn't take any more of my 7'7 frame. Sucks to be that tall..

    I have a good feeling I'm going to die again, tomorrow. I took the exam two years ago and vividly remember how poor the sound quality was on the audio portion. Did they use a cassette recorder to record the audio off of scratchy vinyl? If it's still as frustrating I might answer all B's on that part and hope that I get 25% of the questions correct. With my luck I'd guess, incorrectly of course, and always guess the incorrect "incorrect" answer as well. Choosing all B's should increase my odds! :)
     

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